If anyone had a soft spot for Wyvern's Volvo Citybuses, a trip to Worcester may be in order:
Courtesy of Midlandred.net (Posted by Adam Harber)
32854 has been written off following yesterday's accident. 38125 was collected from Potteries today as it's replacement.
38125 still at Newcastle Thursday lunchtime.
Quote from: broma1k on September 12, 2014, 09:04:32 AM
38125 still at Newcastle Thursday lunchtime.
The above was posted late last night, so it may have since moved.
I'm assuming it will only be a short term replacement being step entrance & 21 years old, there should be ample spare Trident/Presidents knocking around the group
38125 i saw parked in Worcester Bus station about 9:15 with S3 on the destination board
Quote from: Winston on September 12, 2014, 09:23:11 AM
I'm assuming it will only be a short term replacement being step entrance & 21 years old, there should be ample spare Trident/Presidents knocking around the group
There are few abandoned and in new livery 02 and 52 reg's Presidents in Sheffield, like this one 33123 (LT02 NVK)
33123 is in the scrap line and has been for a while after catching fire, only Sheffield trident worth transferring would be 33052 as its had a Euro 4 engine fitted and is now the most reliable
Quote from: Ashley on September 12, 2014, 07:50:22 PM
33123 is in the scrap line and has been for a while after catching fire, only Sheffield trident worth transferring would be 33052 as its had a Euro 4 engine fitted and is now the most reliable
Glasgow also appears to have surplus Tridents
Glasgow have recently been 'flogging' the W-ULL Tridents to anyone that will take them, Scotland East have had a few for schools and Somerset had one, not sure if any are left up there out of service but they appear to have been displaced by the much better LK53 batch
Quote from: jc on September 13, 2014, 08:02:52 AM
Glasgow have recently been 'flogging' the W-ULL Tridents to anyone that will take them, Scotland East have had a few for schools and Somerset had one, not sure if any are left up there out of service but they appear to have been displaced by the much better LK53 batch
8 of the W-ULL (inc. 2 W-VLO ones) have gone to Bristol, I only have W935/6/47/52ULL of these left at Glasgow and I guess these may have left or be leaving shortly as the rest have gone. Two First South Yorkshire Tridents (33029/30) have recently left Sheffield for Glasgow I think, since Sheffield has recently had new E400s from the Commonwealth Games, although these have mostly replaced B10BLEs.
Quote from: Cheese on September 13, 2014, 11:09:23 AM
Quote from: jc on September 13, 2014, 08:02:52 AM
Glasgow have recently been 'flogging' the W-ULL Tridents to anyone that will take them, Scotland East have had a few for schools and Somerset had one, not sure if any are left up there out of service but they appear to have been displaced by the much better LK53 batch
8 of the W-ULL (inc. 2 W-VLO ones) have gone to Bristol, I only have W935/6/47/52ULL of these left at Glasgow and I guess these may have left or be leaving shortly as the rest have gone. Two First South Yorkshire Tridents (33029/30) have recently left Sheffield for Glasgow I think, since Sheffield has recently had new E400s from the Commonwealth Games, although these have mostly replaced B10BLEs.
Have since seen that W935/6/47ULL are all at Taunton so maybe only W952ULL left at Glasgow of this batch?
Would I be stating the obvious also pointing out that 38125 is I believe the last Northampton Transport vehicle left as a bus, or am I wrong?
Quote from: Ashley on September 13, 2014, 12:38:42 PM
Would I be stating the obvious also pointing out that 38125 is I believe the last Northampton Transport vehicle left as a bus, or am I wrong?
I'm afraid you may be wrong.
38132 K132GNH may well be Northampton's last new bus
https://www.flickr.com/photos/21611052@N02/8274678379/
Nice to hear it's back in the wyvern area
Quote from: Winston on September 13, 2014, 03:21:48 PM
Quote from: Ashley on September 13, 2014, 12:38:42 PM
Would I be stating the obvious also pointing out that 38125 is I believe the last Northampton Transport vehicle left as a bus, or am I wrong?
I'm afraid you may be wrong.
38132 K132GNH may well be Northampton's last new bus
https://www.flickr.com/photos/21611052@N02/8274678379/
Yes, K132 GNH was the last new bus delivered to Northampton Transport before the company was sold, but I think Ashley's question relates to K125 URP being the last one still in use with First. If so, then I believe K125 URP is the last one still around (see K123 URP & K126 URP below though).
J298 GNV, K121 URP & WSU 481 all went for scrap at PVS after the Northampton operation was closed down.
K123 URP & K126 URP passed to Diamond, following the sale of Redditch and Kidderminster, and were then sold to Willenhall commercials. I had assumed that these were broken for spares, however, the DVLA database states that both buses have a current SORN certificate in place.
K132 GNH was scrapped a good while ago.
Quote from: Matt on May 23, 2015, 06:56:43 PM
Where is 38125 these days?
It is still at Worcester parked at Padmore Street. It has been there for months. Shame really because it is in good condition for its age, and also had a fairly recent interior refurb, but there isn't a need for it at Worcester. We have pinched Leicester Gemini 32645 for almost a year now (don't know why this just doesn't become a permanent transfer) so I think if any further deckers were needed we would get another one of those. I am surprised 38125 wasn't sent to Cornwall with the new routes they got from Western Greyhound.
Quote from: j789 on May 23, 2015, 08:27:26 PM
It is still at Worcester parked at Padmore Street. It has been there for months. Shame really because it is in good condition for its age, and also had a fairly recent interior refurb, but there isn't a need for it at Worcester. We have pinched Leicester Gemini 32645 for almost a year now (don't know why this just doesn't become a permanent transfer) so I think if any further deckers were needed we would get another one of those. I am surprised 38125 wasn't sent to Cornwall with the new routes they got from Western Greyhound.
I understand your logic about 38125 going to Cornwall due to it being in good condition and such like. It's a solid, robust chassis type for the Cornish operating environment too. There would be one massive downside to it going down there though: HEIGHT! At 14' 11, it would be a real pain in the rump to operate with low trees. Most Olympians are more or less a foot shorter. Personally, I hope 38125 finds its way into preservation as way to represent the last buses Northampton bought before the company was sold by the local authority.
I think the big problem with 38125 is simply 'book value', with the interior refurb it had, this put its value to the company up quite high and at the time was a School Bus, there was rumours of someone bidding for it for preservation but sadly i think they couldn't agree a price
The Citybus had a huge amount of money spent on it while it was with Potteries including a complete reupholstering and at least one new floor(!). It has done comparatively little work since that was undertaken, having been used almost exclusively on schools only when in Staffordshire.
It would make an excellent buy for someone in preservation, subject to them being able to agree a price with First.
Both "jc" and "barry619" have hit the nail on the head.
It shows that the accountants still rule the roost! The amount of work that 38125 has had done means they've increased its book value. That being the case, as an asset, the vehicle should be being "sweated". By that I mean the company really ought to be using it to get a return on the money they've invested in it, rather than having it parked up. Some of the work it has had undertaken makes it a much more robust machine for a preservationist. Other jobs on it (the re-upholstered seats for example) wouldn't be all that attractive to a preservationist, who would probably want something more original.
I'm fairly sure that K125 URP is the last one of these surviving, so I really hope it does find a safe home. Sister buses K123 URP & K126 URP were sold by Diamond to Willenhall Commercials. I'm assuming they were scrapped.
What will sadly end up happening to the Citybus if no preservationist is able to strike a deal with First is that it will sit, slowly rotting, until it is fully depreciated to scrap value, and then be towed away to Barnsley. The unfortunate thing is that Citybuses are still highly rated by small operators as school buses as they are reliable, and high capacity thanks to the mid-engined layout, and First would probably have little difficulty selling it for further use if it made the effort, especially considering the work that has been done to the bus.
Absolute madness, but the exact same happened to numerous Scanias with Potteries which suffered either suffered major mechanical failure or were no longer required prior to being 15 years old, and thus were not fully depreciated. Park them for a number of years, slowly strip parts off as required, then when they turn 15 call PVS to come and take them away. Nothing more than a waste.
The citybus is still sat at the back of the depot on the withdrawn row in the yard with Trident 32854 and E300 67602 in front of it. On the window on a piece of paper it said that 67602 had gearbox issues if anyone is wondering.